Introduction: St. Croix continues to
ratchet up their bass offerings and the Legend Tournament series are designed to
appeal to serious bass anglers looking for truly application specific rods. Over
the course of two winter seasons we put the “Jerkbait” rod in the company’s
series to the test.

St.
Croix
Legend
Tournament
LTBC66MF
Specifications

Material

High-modulus/high-strain
SCIV
graphite.

Length

6'-6"

Line Wt.

10 -
17lb

Lure Wt.

1/4 -
5/8oz

Pieces

1

Guides

9 Guides + Tip Top (Fuji Alconite)

Power Rating

Medium

Taper

Fast

Rod Weight

3.7 oz

Manufacturing
Country

U.S.A.

MSRP

$220.00

There are 24 application
specific rods in St. Croix's
Legend Tournament series, we
take a look at the company's
jerkbait rod

Impressions: I used to dislike bass
fishing in the winter, the combination of cold weather and a slow bite can put a
serious damper on fishing, but over the years as I have learned to adapt to
different situations with new techniques and have come to actually enjoy fishing
in the cold. With warm clothes and the proper gear fishing in the winter can
actually yield some exceptional fish. With reduced pressure on the lake it is
actually prime time to target lunkers, and if you’re a fan of jerkbaits and
ripbaits the winter can be an outstanding time to utilize these lures as well.

The
Daiwa Sol matches perfectly in both color and ergonomics with this rod

The rod
we are looking at this winter is the St. Croix LTBC66MF which is 6’6” in length
and makes use of the company’s IPC tooling, IPC stands for “Integrated Poly
Curve” and was developed andis exclusively used by St. Croix to eliminate transitional
points in the rod blank, IPC-engineered rods are designed to exhibit smoother
actions, increased strength and greater sensitivity.

No
mistaking what this rod is intended for

The LTBC66MF
(Legend Tournament Jerkbait) rod makes use of high modulus/high strain graphite
built with the company’s ART (Advanced Reinforcing Technology). St. Croix
describes the Advanced Reinforcing Technology™ (ART™) as an exotic carbon fiber
material that adds a magnitude (10X) of strength with virtually no increase in
blank diameter or weight. ART significantly improves the hoop strength of the
blank by preventing it from deforming or “ovaling” under severe loads, such as a
powerful hook set or battle with big fish. ART is also a critical part of the
company’s slim-profile ferrule design.

The
rod makes use of a Fuji ECS reel seat

When it comes to
styling it is easy to see why the St. Croix rods are so popular, each rod the
company makes is handsomely adorned with graphics that tie the rod families
together, and when it comes to components the team at St. Croix has mastered the
combination of simple yet stylish design with application specific
functionality. The
LTBC66MF features a blue blank covered with two layers of “Flex Coat” gloss and
is loaded with ten Fuji Alconite guides held in place with chrome frames.

The reel seat is
finished off with a
machined wind check

Lab Tests:
Before hitting the
water we put the
jerkbait rod
to the test in our
lab on our RoD WRACK
and
took note of the rod's deflection characteristics in comparison to other similarly powered sticks. What we found is the
LTBC66MF is lighter
in power than other
similar rods but
transitions pretty
evenly through the
entire blank.